Reborn in 1981, the first to get rich start with dairy cows.

"Xiao Liu, start the experiment immediately." After hearing Shen Dong's words, Chang Sheng immediately gave the order.

Once he got into work mode, Chang Sheng even forgot about Shen Dong's existence, and two other people in the office gathered around him.

Xiao Liu turned on the light and started operating the machine carefully, while everyone else held their breath, observing whether there were any problems with the operation.

More than half an hour passed.

"Success! The problem is really solved!" Xiao Liu said in surprise, looking at the isolated bacteria.

"There's no rush, we need to observe further." Chang Sheng said he needed to observe, but his years of research experience told him that the problem was truly solved.

And the one who solved the problem wasn't these researchers who spent all their time at their workbenches, but a tall, imposing commune factory director?!

The group exchanged glances, all showing surprise in each other's eyes.

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

"Section Chief Chang, a food factory in Shanghai asked us if the bacterial strains we asked them to make are ready, because they want to develop new products."

Chang Sheng replied, "Oh, it's ready. Tell them to come pick it up tomorrow."

"OK!"

Seeing that everyone had left, Chang Sheng showed an excited expression again, raised his hand to check the time, and realized it was almost time to get off work.

"Director Shen, are you busy tonight? If not, how about we have dinner together and have a good chat?"

Shen Dong was overjoyed inside, but his face still showed a conflicted expression as he said, "I have two colleagues with me, if possible..."

"Call them over to join us!"

Since the other party had spoken, Shen Dong naturally had no problem. There was a phone in his office, but Shen Dong didn't know the guesthouse's phone number, so he looked it up in the Yellow Pages.

After the call connected, I asked the receptionist to notify the two people, and then I set off with Chang Sheng and his group.

Things went well as he had planned, but Chang Sheng's friendly and approachable attitude towards him was unexpected.

The Shanghai guy I met in my past life was pretty arrogant, huh? Could it be that the one I met before wasn't from Shanghai?!

When they arrived at the restaurant, someone suggested, "Xiao Shen, how about we wait for your two colleagues to arrive before ordering?"

How could he let the section chief go hungry? Shen Dong immediately refused: "No need, they'll be here soon, let's order first."

Chang Sheng then let Shen Dong order the food.

"Uncle Chang, you should order. You're the local, so you'll definitely know better than us outsiders. It's best if you order!" The two became closer, and even their way of addressing each other changed.

"Okay, I'll take a look."

Chang Sheng didn't refuse any longer. After ordering a few dishes, the three of them started chatting.

Perhaps because it was just after the Lantern Festival, the shop was very crowded. Everyone was still caught up in the festive spirit and chatting enthusiastically.

Chang Sheng and Xiao Liu had never been to Pengcheng, but Shen Dong told them about the local customs and interesting stories from their childhood, which were all very interesting.

Shen Dong then jokingly asked them to talk about Shanghai, occasionally revealing an envious expression.

The two were very pleased.

Just as two dishes were served, Li Hu and Zhu Chengrong arrived.

Shen Dong introduced them to each other, and after shaking hands, they sat down.

"Let's eat first. These two have red noses from the cold; some hot pot will warm them up."

Knowing that the other party was the section chief of the research institute, Li Hu felt a little awkward and didn't dare to touch any of the dishes, only eating the ones in front of him.

Fortunately, the dish in front of me was shredded pork with green peppers, which was a decent "main dish" and made me finish my rice.

"Xiao Shen, do you have other tasks coming here this time?"

Normally, if it were just for the bacteria, there wouldn't be a need for three people to come all this way; he was aware of that.

Shen Dong put down his chopsticks and briefly explained why he had come.

"Buying equipment?! Oh dear, why didn't you say so earlier?" Seeing Shen Dong's puzzled look, Chang Sheng continued to explain, "A lot of our equipment is also needed by your factory. How could we not be familiar with state-owned factories?"

Zhu Chengrong and Shen Dong exchanged a glance, their faces showing surprise and delight.

Chang Sheng pressed his advantage, asking, "What equipment do you want to buy? I can help you ask around. I suppose I still have some influence with Section Chief Wang."

"Oh, thank you so much, Uncle Chang. I...I..." Shen Dong looked around and realized he hadn't ordered any alcohol, so he called out, "Waiter, bring me a bottle of wine."

Chang Sheng smiled and waved his hand, dismissing the waiter.

"Xiao Shen, helping you is also helping ourselves. If you could help us test the bacterial strains and summarize the problems regularly, it would be a great help to our work."

Seeing that the other party was serious, Shen Dong no longer hesitated and told them about the equipment he planned to buy.

Since he is a researcher, he is also very familiar with the production line.

"You guys... have such lofty ambitions!" Chang Sheng thought for a long time, but couldn't find the right words to describe it!

It should be noted that the equipment Shen Dong mentioned is typically only purchased by large state-owned factories, and even then, only those factories with considerable resources would buy it. Normal state-owned factories tend to be mediocre, and their equipment is usually quite old.

Shen Dong said earnestly, "Uncle Chang, our determination to run the factory is genuine, so we are willing to make all sorts of efforts and try all sorts of things for it, even if we fail!"

"Good!" Xiao Liu praised softly.

Chang Sheng patted Shen Dong's arm, his eyes full of admiration.

When does the order fair start?

"Two more days!"

He thought for a moment and made the arrangements: "Here's what we'll do. Come to my place the day after tomorrow. One reason is that you can take the inoculum with you, and the other is that I'll contact them tomorrow to see if I can get a discount on your equipment. You guys don't earn money easily, so every little bit helps."

"Thank you so much, Uncle Chang! Thank you for your support and help."

"Let's eat! The food's getting cold!"

The meal passed by amidst laughter and cheerful conversation.

Now that the issue of the bacterial strain was resolved, the next day, Shen Dong, along with Li Hu and Zhu Chengrong, began to investigate the market.

The two of them also needed to buy some things to take back in advance, so the group went to the Bund area.

This place is home to the famous First Food Store, as well as department stores and various food shops.

In his previous life, Shen Dong had been here many times and seen the night view many times, but the Bund in 82 was indeed not very impressive.

After all, Pudong was still a run-down rural area at that time.

Since it was a dairy factory, Shen Dong and Li Hu focused on checking things related to milk, while Zhu Chengrong wandered around by himself. He didn't have any specific task; he was just preparing to buy some gifts for his wife and children.

"Dongzi, I've walked around a few times, and there's a lot of food, but it seems like there's very little dairy... Am I seeing things wrong?"

Li Hu, being a purchasing agent, had memorized the prices of all the food items after walking around the store. However, he didn't see what he was looking for, which left him somewhat puzzled.

It's not entirely his fault, because Shen Dong, who works in the dairy industry, assumed there would be more dairy products in Shanghai, but that wasn't actually the case.

There were very few dairy products available at the time, and milk drinks like the one Shen Dong wanted to make were nowhere to be found; the market was completely untapped.

Currently, only fresh milk ordered by families is available, and due to purification technology issues, the milk flavor is very weak.

Also, plain yogurt packaged in porcelain or glass bottles doesn't come with flavors like brown sugar or jujube from factories.

The remaining options are malted milk powder and Lekoufu, which are instant powders and considered high-end nutritional products, so they are not within the scope of consideration.

Li Hu walked around, his eyes gleaming: "Dongzi, if we put the yogurt on this counter, it'll be snapped up like crazy."

Shen Dong nodded, and after a while, Zhu Chengrong returned with his purchases.

"Buy some White Rabbit candy for the kids. They kept asking for it because they knew I was coming to Shanghai."

White Rabbit Creamy Candy is a household name, and Shen Dong and Li Hu bought some too.

"Let's go take a look at the City God Temple."